{"id":37098,"date":"2019-07-19T10:26:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T17:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=37098"},"modified":"2019-07-19T10:26:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T17:26:44","slug":"a-paragon-of-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/07\/19\/a-paragon-of-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"A Paragon of Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember Stinky Zinke<\/a>, infamous for corruption, luxury charter flights at your expense and theft of your public land for polluters?  His successor, David Bernhardt, aka Bernfart, is even worse.  Stinky made you pay through the nose to move him around.  Bernfart wants you to pay through the nose to move the Interior Department to him.  He’s so sleazy that he generated an ethics investigation in less than a week after confirmation.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"0719DavidBernhardt\"<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n

The Interior Department\u2019s internal watchdog has opened an investigation into ethics complaints against the agency\u2019s newly installed secretary, David Bernhardt<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Mr. Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, was confirmed by the Senate last week to head the agency<\/a>, which oversees the nation\u2019s 500 million acres of public land and vast coastal waters. He has played a central role in writing policies designed to advance President Trump\u2019s policy of \u201cenergy dominance\u201d and expanding fossil fuel exploration. He has been dogged by allegations of ethics violations since joining the Trump administration as the Interior Department\u2019s deputy secretary in 2017. <\/p>\n

Eight senators, all Democrats, and four government ethics watchdog groups have requested that the Interior Department\u2019s inspector general open formal investigations into various aspects of Mr. Bernhardt\u2019s conduct. Among the chief complaints have been allegations, revealed by three separate New York Times investigations, that Mr. Bernhardt used his position to advance a policy pushed by his former lobbying client<\/a>; that he continued working as a lobbyist after filing legal paperwork declaring that he had ceased lobbying<\/a>; and that he intervened to block the release of a scientific report<\/a> showing the harmful effects of a chemical pesticide on certain endangered species. <\/p>\n

In a letter sent Monday to the senators who filed the ethics complaints, Mary L. Kendall, the deputy inspector general of the Interior Department, wrote that she had received seven complaints from \u201ca wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflicts of interest and other violations\u201d by Mr. Bernhardt, adding that she had \u201copened an investigation to address them.\u201d… RESIST<\/strong>!!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <NY Times<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

That article was from April 15.  On moving the Department, here’s Rachel Maddow<\/a>.<\/font><\/p>\n